Braiding machine



Feb. 19, 1924` J. B. HALE BRAIDING MACHINE Filed April 25, l192s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .www 1MM;

Patented Feb. 19, 1924. A

UNireo armes! Means PATENT ovarica.

JOSHUA B. HALE, or PROVIDENCE, airone' rsLnNn, AssreN-on 'roi'rnxrrrn EN- GINEERING COMPANY, or PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A oonPoRATroN 'or RHODE ISLAND.

BRAIDING MACHINE.

Application filed. April 25, 1923. Serial No. 634,473;

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known thatl, Josiimi B. Henn, a

citizen of the United States, and a residentl oi' Providence, in the county of Providence and State ot Rhode sla-nd, have invented an Improvement in Braiding Machines, of which the following description, in con# nection with the accompanying drawings,

is a specication, like characters on lthe drawings representing like parts. y

rlhis invention relates to braiding machines. In order that the principle of the invention may be readily understood, l have disclosed a single embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a plan view oi" the body struc' ture showing the quoits in position;

Fig. 2 is transverse sectionon the line 2-2 o' Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section yupon the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. l1; y v

Fig. 4 is a plan view upon an enlarged scale of a portion. only of the structure shown in Fig. land representing also certain of the carriers;

Figs. 5 and 6 are side elevations of a lett and a. right carrier respectively;

Figs. 7 and'8 are vertical transverse sec-.g

tions upon the lines 7 7 and 6-#6 respectively oi' Fig. 4; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view ofcarrier4 guiding or directing means constituting an important feature of my invention.

The body structure 1 may be of any'suitable type or character. lt may for example be ot the unitary type disclosed in my copending application Serial Nol 512,317, filed November 2, 1921, and is so shown. It is clearly to be understood, however, that my invention is not limited in this respect.: l have herein shown saidbody vstructure as et the type disclosed insaid cO-pending appli'cation and have represented it asprovided with` an inner Wall 2 and an outer WallA 3 so shaped as to provide ,a communieating series of open top depressions, Wells: or recesses 4 for the reception of the. quoits own a-Xis in its own depression', Weller re-4 cess, and for that purpose 'is lprovidedWith a vgear 10. Each of thegvvalls 2, i3 is curved in a series of intersecting'segments `so as to provide Aprojecting angles in pairs `directed toward each other, the space between each pair of angles constituting the cpminunicating opening between adjacent depressions, Wells or recesses. lThe vdistancey between eaclifpair of angles is substantially the length of a carrier 6 or 7 and is desira-` bly of almost exactly that length. Each ot said Walls'f2, V3 isfvertical' lor straight viewed perpendicularly. Each ot the" quoits 5 has an outercylindrical surface 11vvl1i`ch i at-some point between they upper and lower extremitiesy of said cylindrical surface isl desirably provided with an annular flange 12 `wherein the notches 8 occur.s-"lhns lit will be apparent that'the'V cylindrical surtace 11 of each quoit'provides avertical surface sufficiently spaced from lthe adjacent portion ofthel faoe 2 to provide aI groove, channel or raceway for therecep-v tion ot' the carriers 6, 7. It Willt-hus be evident that the groove, channel. Or' racevvay at its inner portion exists betweenthe vertical face 2 and the vertical surf-ace 11 of the quoits 5, and at itsouter portionexists between said vertical surf-acesll `of said quoits '5' and the vertical Wall B. Said roove, channel or racevvay/ is thus parallel walled, the flanges 12 being'ernployed or` notas desired,l and is uniform in structure or character froml top to bottom.

At each of the angles ol the innervvall 2 and at each of the angles of the outer Wall 25,' l] provide` means, preferably 4tired, for guiding' or directing the* carriers in their sinuous paths in the groove,v channelvor racevvay. Said means may be integral withl the body structure ,1, -or of some'portion off said body structure 'if `the-latter be made in-more than-'one piece, or said means may beformed of one or more ypieces and secured, preferably iXedly, inposition at said angles. and is here shown. rlphe structure is prefs era-bly such as to` cooperate with' distinctive carriers and for Vthat reasoml'desirably and herein pro-vide ytwo typesv of carriers,

therebeing one or vmore carriers ofV eachl type. Such carriers term right and lettk carriers, the right carrier being rep-f so` i Said latter structure is preferred,

resented in Fig. 6, and the left car rier in- Fig. 5. Each of said carriers has its upper portion 18 of lenticularshape and all the carriers are desirably identical in this respect. The lateral walls of said portions 13 are yreceived between the wall 2 or the wall 3, and the lateral, cylindrical surface 11 ofthe quoits 5 and the stems or reduced portions 9 are received in the notches 8 of the quoits. Upon some suita- -ble portion of at least .one of the carriers G, 7, I provide a formation constituting a clearance for the fixed guiding points not functioning in` guiding the particular carrier on which clearance is provided. In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, I

provide a groove 16 but the position of the groove may obviously be varied in accordance with the vposition of the guiding' means. For example, such groove 16 might be above 0r below the horizontal groove provided for therreception of the flange 12 of the quoit.

Referring merely to the disclosed embodiment of the invention, I have provided belowthe reduced portions 9, the part 14 upon the right carrier 6 and the `portion 15 upon the leftJ carrier 7 Said portions 14, 15 are herein in part of the same size and form as the portions 13, but the portion 14C has an annular groove 16 intermediate the upper and lower surfaces yof said portion 14 and the portion 15 is in this instance devoid of.

such a groove and desirably terminates at the bottom., horizontalvsurface 17. rI`he eX-v act position of said groove 16 may be varied and below it is provided the curved surface 16. The groove 16 constitutes a clearance for the fixed vguiding elementy not used `in guiding the particular carriers vhaving such groove. Referring to the carrier 7 which ff is shortened, so that its .bottom surface is i able recesses for'that purpose two plates or p pieces 18, 19 shown most clearly in Fig. 9.

` ment thereof.

At each of said angles: I position.` in suitand which as already stated may be integral with each other or be formed in any suitable way. Assuming for purposes of'description that at each `angle I pro-vide two plates or' pieces 18, 19, I desirably secure each of them in position by a vertical pin 20 as most clearly shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Said pieces 17 18 are pointed as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 11 and 9, and are provided with curved edges 21, 22, 23, 24, the curvature of said walls 21, 22 corresponding Ito the curvature of the surface 15, and the curvature of the edges 23, 24. corresponding to the curvature of the surface 16 below the groove 16. Said plates or pieces 18, 19 overlap as indicated most clearly in Fig. 9, and the struc.

ture is such and the distance apart of each pair of such plates or pieces 18, 19 is such as clearly represented in Fig. 4 thateach carrier is for a brief instant of time supported at both its leading and trailing ends by a pair of said plates or members. Such condition is shown at the position B Vof the right hand carrier 6, the said carrier being shown at A, B, C in three different positions. The left hand carrier 7 is shown in Figliy in one position.

' It is evident .that as each carrier is supported for a brief instant at both its, leading and trailing ends, and as the guiding or directing means is rigid, no lost motion occurs and there is no possibility of any carrier being directed into a wrongportion of the groove.

I am aware that it has heretofore been' proposed to form two `carrier raceways in different horizontal planes, one overlying or existing above the other, and at the angles.

of said raceways the carriers have been directedy into the proper portion of the groove by :reason` of the different widths of the two raceways. My invention is radically dift'erentiated from such a construction. I employ but a single raceway, and that raceway is of the same size or lateral dimensions from its. bottom to its top, as, for the purposes of this statement, the flange 12 may be disregarded as it may or may not lbe employed. At the inner and outer angles of such single raceway,I provide the guiding or directing means, onetype or embodiment; of which I have disclosed, and I provide right and left braiding carriers, all of which are .desirably identical in structure, excepting for the groove 16, as the carrier 7 may or may not be shortened at its base 17, as desired. y

It will be observed that I have provided Xed guiding elements, and referring to the structure shown in Fig. 9, it is noted that the guides 18, 19 are superimposed, although they need not necessarily be exactly together or in contact. `Such guiding elements project into the raceway in angular relation to each other.

. Having thus described one illustrative embodiment of my invention, I desire itto'y be understood that although specific terms y are employed, they are lused in a generic and descriptive se-nse and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.

Claimsv 1. A braiding machine having a .body with communicatingrecesses and a series of .ro-

tatable quoits mounted in said recesses, there 'being a raceway of uniform character from 2. A braiding machine having a body pro-l vided with a series of communicating `open topped recesses; a series of rotatable quoits mounted in said recesses, there being a'raceway of uniform character from top to bottom provided by and between the adjacent upright series of said quoits and recesses, said raceway having angular portions where the adjacent recesses communicate, `and fixed means at said angular portions to guide or direct `the carriers into the proper portion of said raceway.

3. A braiding machine having a body with communicating recesses and a series of rotatable quoits` mounted in said recesses, there being a race'way provided by and between the adjacent surfaces of said quoits and recesses, said raceyvay havin-g angular portions Where theI recesses communicatef and fixed means on said angular portions to guide or direct the carriers into the proper portion 0f said raceway.

li. A braiding machine body structure having a raceway of uniform character, said raceway presenting a siiiuous path with anglee arranged in pairs spaced `apart substantially the length of the carriers and fixed guiding or directing means at said angles.

5. A b-raiding machine having a body wherein are provided a series of communieating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses andv spaced from the walls of the latter to provide a. racevvay having opposed angular portions, said raceway being of uniform character from top to bottom, and fixed guiding or directing means at said opposed angular portions.

6. A braiding machine having a body wherein are provided a series ,of communicating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from the walls of the latter to provid-e a raceway having opposed angular portions, right and left carriers positioned in said racevvay and fixed guiding or directing means at said opposed angular portions.

7. A braiding` machine having a body wherein are provided a series of communieating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from the walls of the latter to provide a racevvay having opposed angular portions, said raceway being of uniform character from top to bottoni, a; series of right and leftcarriers mounted in said raceway, and guiding or directing nieansfor said carriers :positioned at said opposed angular portions.

m8. A braiding'y machine havingy a bodywherein are provided a series of communieating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from l the walls of :the latter to provide a raceway having opposed angular portions, said race- Way being of uniform character frointop to bottoni, a series of .right and left carriers positioned'iirsaid racevvay and 'xed' guiding or directing means for the carriers at said angular portions.

9. -A braiding macl ne wherein are provided `a series of .commu-ni- .cating recesses, a series of. quoits rotatably mounted in saidrecesses and spaced from,`

the walls of the latter to provide. a` racefway having opposed angular portions', right and left carriers positioned in said racevvay, and. having selecting formations ,indifferent horizontal planes, and guiding means at said angular portions respectively to engage said contrasting formations.

10. A braiding machine having a body wherein are provided a'series of com-municating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from the Walls of the latter to'provide a racevvay having opposed angular portions, a series of right and left carriers in, saidracevvay and having selecting formations in dierent horizontal planes, and' fixed overlapping guiding or directing means at said angular portions to engage respectively the said selecting formation of the carriers.

11. A braiding machine having a body wherein are provideda series of communieating recesses, a series of quoitsrotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from the Walls of the latter to provide a race- Way having opposed angular portions, and

fixed guiding means at said angular portions, tlie members of an opposed pair of said guiding or directing means being spaced apart substantially the exact length of a carrier. c

12. A braiding machine having a body wherein are provided a series of communicating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably so having a body mounted iny said recesses and spaced from the Walls of the latter to provide a racevvay having opposed angular portions, and fixed guiding or directing means at said angular portions and consisting of two pointed plates slightly overlapping to present selecting guiding means for the car-- ri ers.

13. A braiding machine having a body way having opposed angular portions, fiXed guiding or directing means at said angular portions and consisting of two pointed of each guidingor directing means.

1 14. A braiding machine having a body wherein are provided a series of communieating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from the walls of the latter to provide a raceway having opposed angular portions, and guiding and directing -means at each angular portion consisting of two plates fixed in position and slightly laterally overlapping, each plate having a `point and two faces curved away from said point on the radius of a portion of the carrier guided thereby.

l5. A braiding machine having a body wherein are provided a series of communieating recesses, a series of quoits rotatably mounted in said recesses and spaced from the walls of the latter to provide a raceway having opposed angular portions, the raceway thus having two parallel walls, one of which is constituted by the series of quoits,

- and fixed vguiding or directing means at said opposed angular portions.

16. A braiding machinehaving a body way havingl opposed angular portions, fixed angular directing means-at saidv opposed angular portions, said directing means having selecting parts, and two series of carriers which are guided in said raceway and are guided or directed at said opposed angular portions by the selecting parts of said guiding or directing means.

.17. A braiding machine having a body provided with a series of communicating open topped recesses; a series ofr rotatable quoits mounted in said recesses, there being a raceway of uniform character from top to bottom provided by and between the adjacent upright series of said quoits and recesses, said raceway having angular portions where the adjacent recesses communicate, iXed means at said angular portions to guide or direct the carriers into `the proper portion of said raceway,vand a series of right and left carriers in said raceway, said fixed means respectively having selecting parts to cooperate respectively with said right and left carriers. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification. c

JOSHUA B. HALE. 

